Car crashes can happen in the blink of an eye, but the consequences can linger for a long time. One potential consequence is a neck injury called whiplash. While whiplash can sometimes heal on its own, some patients may experience life-altering effects. That’s why getting medical attention and legal advice is important.
If you sustained whiplash in a car crash, take your case seriously right from the start. Talk to the experienced car accident attorneys at Vaughan & Vaughan. An Indiana whiplash injury car accident lawyer from our firm can pursue the compensation you need to deal with the lasting impacts of your condition.
Compensation for Whiplash Injury Victims
When you hire an Indiana whiplash car accident lawyer, they’ll aim to replace all of the financial losses you’ve taken due to the accident. They can also pursue compensation to make up for non-economic losses like physical pain.
Your attorney will meet with you via a free consultation to calculate how much compensation is necessary to make things right. A successful car accident claim could yield any of the following damages:
- Medical bills
- Out-of-pocket medical expenses, including medication, assistive devices, and physical therapy
- Cost to repair property damage and vehicle damage
- Lost income
- Changes in ability to earn a living
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You File a Claim for Whiplash
The money you receive from a claim could help turn your life around. To give yourself the best chance possible at receiving a fair settlement, you’ll want to work with an experienced attorney.
At Vaughan and Vaughan, our firm has served the people of Indiana for over 100 years. We know how to win and are prepared to help you do so. Here’s what a whiplash injury car accident attorney from our team in Indiana will do to make your claim a winning claim:
Collect Evidence
When filing an insurance claim, you need to show insurers evidence that the other party caused the crash, your injuries, and losses. To prove to the insurance provider that you deserve fair compensation, your lawyer can collect accident reports, police reports, photos of the accident, and medical records.
An attorney can also interview eyewitnesses and call on the help of accident reconstruction experts. Accident experts can use clues from the scene of the collision, like tire marks and vehicle damage, to determine how the accident played out and who is to blame.
Build Your Claim
Once your lawyer has gathered and analyzed all the evidence available, they’ll use it to create a strong claim on your behalf. Our firm has been representing the wrongfully injured since 1913, so you can be confident that they know what goes into a winning claim.
Meet With Insurers
The next step is to meet with insurers and reach a settlement agreement that covers your losses. Since whiplash is often sustained after low-speed crashes, the insurance company may argue that such a minor collision couldn’t have caused a significant injury.
Alternatively, the insurers may offer a quick settlement to make your whiplash claim disappear. The problem is that such settlements often fall short of the full cost of your injury.
Whiplash is often associated with other serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) or spinal cord injury (SCI).
The full cost of such an injury can easily be in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. That’s why you need an experienced Indiana car accident attorney to advocate for full whiplash injury compensation. We have the resources and legal knowledge to fight for you while you focus on resting, healing, and moving forward with your life.
Take Further Action
If the insurance company is stubborn enough to reject your claim or refuse to raise a lowball offer, you can still pursue compensation with a lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit differs from a personal injury claim in that your attorney will present your case in front of a courtroom instead of a room of insurance adjusters.
Taking a case to court may sound nerve-wracking, but when you choose our firm, you choose some of the most renowned trial lawyers in Indiana. In fact, our firm’s own Charles V. Vaughan is certified in civil trial law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
His certification is difficult to achieve and is only given to attorneys who demonstrate a high level of skill in the courtroom.
Don’t Wait to Hire a Whiplash Injury Car Accident Lawyer in Indiana
If you’re dealing with endless doctor’s appointments and a painful injury, it may be tempting to put off hiring a personal injury lawyer. However, delaying legal action could actually hurt your case. The longer you wait to reach out to an attorney, the more likely it is that evidence will go missing and eyewitnesses will forget what they saw.
You’ll want to schedule a free consultation with a car accident lawyer in Indiana today to avoid hurting your case. Acting now can also help your attorney meet the state’s filing deadline for personal injury lawsuits.
Indiana’s Filing Deadline
When pursuing a personal injury lawsuit in Indiana, you must comply with Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4. This statute of limitations requires plaintiffs to submit their suits no later than two years after the accident they were injured in. If you fail to file a lawsuit before the two-year mark, you’ll likely be denied the compensation you need to get back on your feet.
Since this rule only applies to lawsuits, you may feel comfortable waiting to contact an attorney to file a claim. We urge you to get in touch with a lawyer ASAP, as you never know when a claim will turn into a civil suit. Even if you’ve put off legal action for months or years, we encourage you to contact our firm and ask about your legal option.
Common Symptoms of Whiplash
Whiplash is a neck injury caused by violent forward and backward movement of the head in response to sudden acceleration and deceleration, usually in a car accident. As the head moves, the muscles in the neck rapidly expand (hyperextension) and contract (hyperflexion), causing significant damage.
Whiplash is most commonly associated with rear-end accidents, but it can occur after any type of car crash, including T-bone accidents and head-on collisions. Depending on the nature and extent of the neck injury, whiplash symptoms can include:
- Neck pain and stiffness
- Shoulder pain
- Low back pain
- Arm or hand pain
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Blurred vision
- Disrupted sleep or fatigue
One of the tricky things about whiplash is that the symptoms are sometimes delayed. Especially in the immediate aftermath of the crash, with your “fight or flight” response still engaged, you may not notice pain or stiffness in your neck. Whiplash symptoms may not appear for hours, days, or even weeks after a crash.
How Long does Whiplash Last After a Car Accident?
While most cases of whiplash go away after a few weeks, that is hardly guaranteed. Some people with whiplash continue experiencing neck pain for months or even years. It’s difficult to predict how long your whiplash will last, so it’s best not to take chances. Please don’t assume your injury will heal on its own. Talk to a doctor.
Seek Medical Attention if You Notice Signs of Whiplash
If you’ve been in a car accident, you should go to the emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care provider to get checked out for whiplash and any other injuries. A doctor will examine you and, if necessary, order diagnostic tests, such as X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or a computed tomography (CT) scan, to find underlying damage.
This is important for two reasons. First and most importantly, these medical tests will allow your doctor to diagnose your injury and prescribe the proper treatment, which is the best course of action for your health. Second, diagnosing your whiplash injury creates a record that will support your claim for financial compensation. Insurance companies often dispute whiplash claims, so this documentation is vital.
Additional Car Accident Injuries We Can File a Claim for
Many car accident victims experience whiplash alongside other conditions. Our whiplash accident attorneys in Indiana will take all of your injuries seriously. If we agree to take on your case, we can seek reimbursement for lost wages and medical bills resulting from any of the following injuries:
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Spinal injury
- Nerve damage
- Head injury
- Internal injury
- Broken bones
- Lacerations
Even what seems like a minor injury can have life-changing consequences. If you’ve been in a seedling harmless fender bender or low-speed collision, seek medical attention and legal representation as soon as you can. Doing so could change your life for the better.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Accident Attorney
When you’re dealing with whiplash after a car accident, the last thing you need is the headache of dealing with a dishonest insurance company. Let the legal team at Vaughan & Vaughan deal with them on your behalf. We have decades of experience and a strong track record of results.
We know how to negotiate significant whiplash settlements, and if the insurance company doesn’t make a fair offer, we’ll take your case to trial. Remember, you only have a limited amount of time to take legal action in Indiana. If you sustained whiplash or another neck injury in a car accident, contact us to schedule a free consultation.
